By Keith Idec
Julian Williams moved one step closer Saturday night to earning his shot at redemption.
Philadelphia’s Williams took Nathaniel Gallimore’s hardest shots well and took control in the second half of their 12-round, 154-pound fight in Las Vegas. Williams won their IBF junior middleweight elimination match by majority decision on the Erislandy Lara-Jarrett Hurd undercard at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Judges Eric Cheek (116-112) and Max DeLuca (117-110) scored the fight for Williams by comfortable margins. Judge Patricia Morse Jarman scored the bout even (114-114), despite that Williams appeared to pull away over the final six rounds.
His victory Saturday night could land the 28-year-old Williams (25-1-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC), who’s ranked No. 5 by the IBF, a shot at the Lara-Hurd winner. The 29-year-old Gallimore, who’s ranked No. 4 by the IBF, slipped to 20-2-1 (17 KOs).
In his first title shot, Jermall Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs), then the IBF junior middleweight champ, knocked out Williams in the fifth round of their December 2016 bout in Los Angeles. Williams has won three straight fights since losing to Charlo.
Before Saturday night, Gallimore had lost only a 10-round split decision to Lithuania’s Virgilijus Stapulionis (29-5-1, 19 KOs) in June 2016. Gallimore, a native Jamaican who fights out of Evanston, Illinois, also drew with Kyrgyzstan’s Urmat Ryskeldiev (11-4-2, 7 KOs) in an eight-rounder in October 2015.
There wasn’t much discrepancy about whether Gallimore lost Saturday night. Williams put the finishing touches on his win by out-landing a fatigued Gallimore in the 12th round.
Perhaps sensing he needed a knockout, an aggressive Gallimore started the 11th round by throwing a lot of punches. Williams weathered Gallimore’s aggression, and he began beating up a fading Gallimore around the midway mark of the 11th.
Williams hammered Gallimore with a left hook during the second half of the 11th round. He also connected with numerous hard right hands that seemed to affect Gallimore, but Gallimore made it to the end of the round.
Gallimore was busier in the 10th round than he was in the ninth, but Williams was still the sharper, more accurate fighter in the 10th. Williams’ overhand right clipped Gallimore with just under 30 seconds remaining in the 10th round.
Williams blasted Gallimore with a left hook and followed it up with a right uppercut when there was just over a minute to go in the ninth round. Gallimore seemed tired by then, and Williams capitalized on it by throwing and landing more punches in those three minutes.
Gallimore and Williams continued to fight from close distances in the eighth round. Gallimore connected with a couple clean left hooks in the eighth, but Williams landed a short right hand and a right uppercut in the eighth.
Williams and Gallimore were effective fighting inside throughout the seventh round. Williams went to Gallimore’s body well during the seventh round as well.
Williams drilled Gallimore with a hard left to the body when there were approximately 45 seconds to go in the sixth round.
Gallimore began landing harder shots during the fifth round, particularly with his right hand. Williams also sustained a cut over his left eye in the fifth from an accidental clash of heads.
Gallimore and Williams drilled each other with hard rights late in the fourth round. Williams was able to land consistently to Gallimore’s body in the first two minutes of the fourth round.
Weeks warned Williams for holding early in the fourth round.
The bout became physical during a third round in which Williams and Gallimore went to each other’s body, clinched and wrestled for position.
Williams connected with a solid right hand around the 1:40 mark of the second round. Gallimore landed an overhand right about 40 seconds later.
Williams’ jab was effective during a first round in which Gallimore didn’t throw many punches.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
